CHAPTER XII
NATIONAL FRUSTRATION
I
Suppose an Indian was asked, what is the highest destiny you wish for your country, what would be his answer ? The question is important, and the answer cannot but he instructive.
There can be no doubt that other things being equal, a hundred per cent Indian, proud of his country, would say, “An integral and independent India is my ideal of India’s destiny”. It will be equally true to say that unless this destiny was accepted by both Hindus as well as Muslims, the ideal can only convey a pious wish, and can never take a concrete form. Is it only a pious wish of some or is it a goal to be persued by all ?
So far as profession of political aims goes, all parties seem to be in agreement inasmuch as all of them have declared that the goal of India’s political evolution is independence. The Congress was the first to announce that its aim was to achieve political independence for India. In its Madras session, held in December 1927, the creed of the Congress was defined in a special resolution to the effect that the goal of the Indian people* was complete national independence. The Hindu Maha Sabha until 1932 was content to have Responsible Government as the goal of India’s political evolution. It made no change in its political creed till 1937 when in its session held at Ahmedabad it declared that the Hindu Maha Sabha believed in “Poorna Swaraj” i.e., absolute independence for India. The Muslim League declared its political creed in 1912 to be the establishment of Responsible Government in India. In 1937 it made a similar advance by changing its creed
- The creed of the Congress was not changed at Madras. It was changed at the Lahore session of the Congress by a resolution passed on 31st December 1929. In the Madras session only a resolution in favour of independence was passed. In the Calcutta session of the Congress held in December 1928 both Mr. Gandhi and the President of the Congress declared themselves willing to accept Dominion Status if it was offered by the British Government by midnight of 31st December 1929.